MANILA, Philippines - Four of the
country’s biggest conglomerates are pooling their resources to build a
P15-billion megastructure that will connect the 100-hectare Pagcor
Entertainment City along Manila Bay to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport
(NAIA) and the Skyway.
The STAR learned that the groups
granted separate licenses by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor)
to operate casinos at the Entertainment City are financing P6.5 billion of the
projected P12 billion to P15 billion cost of building the bridge/road
infrastructure that will connect NAIA Terminal 3-Skyway to the Entertainment
City.
The four include Bloomberry Resorts
and Hotels Inc. of port operator Enrique Razon that will build the 16-hectare
Solaire Manila luxury casino and hotel-resort project; the Tiger Resorts
project to be jointly undertaken by Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada in
partnership with the Gokongwei Group and taipan Andrew Tan (the latter for land
development); Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc. (Travellers International) for
the 31-hectare Resorts World Bayshore project in partnership with Genting Hong
Kong Ltd.; and a consortium led by retail king Henry Sy in partnership with
Macau casino giant Melco Crown Entertainment-owned by Australian billionaire
James Packer and Lawrence Ho, son of Macau gaming tycoon Stanley Ho.
Pagcor chairman Cristino Naguiat Jr.
told The STAR that Pagcor and the Department of Public Works and Highways
(DPWH) are scheduled to sign an agreement this week or next for the project,
which will be undertaken without any cost to the government, except probably
for the acquisition of right-of-way.
Of the estimated project cost, P6.5
billion will be shouldered by the four proponents while the balance will have
to be spent by the group that will bag the contract to undertake the
construction of the infrastructure project. DPWH will undertake the bidding for
the project, which Naguiat described as a hybrid Public-Private Partnership
(PPP) project.
The project will have a ramp to NAIA
Terminals 1, 2, and 3 to facilitate the travel of visitors to and from the
casinos at the Entertainment City, which Naguiat expects will have an edge over
those of Singapore and Macau.
“In Singapore and Macau, there is
nothing to see because these places are so small. Entertainment City, on the
other hand, will just be a small part of a bigger tourism package. It will
become part of the Department of Tourism’s national development plan,” Naguiat
added.
Bloomberry’s casino will be the first
to go onboard by the first quarter of next year, followed by the Belle-Melco
project by the end of 2013. Next will be the Okada-Gokongwei joint venture
which will start end of 2014, followed by the Alliance Global casino by the
last quarter of 2015 or early 2016.
Pagcor has required all licensees to
put in a minimum $1-billion investment in each integrated resort (to be spent
before the term of President Aquino ends in 2016), build a minimum of 250,000
square meters of floor area and complete 800 hotel rooms with an average room
area of 40 square meters.
________________________________________________________________
